Electric gas lighter



April 14, 1936. w. J. REEVES 2,037,148

ELECTRIC GAS LIGHTER Filed April 1, 1.935

i/ VE/V 70 e X4574 TEE J. E55 V55 the amount of gas delivered toPatented Apr. '14, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,037,148 ELECTRICGAS LIGHTER Walter J. Reeves, Glendale, Calif. Application April 1,1935, Serial No. 14,088

3 Claims My invention relates to an electric gas lighter and has for itsprincipal object, the provision of a relatively simple, practical andinexpensive device that may be conveniently associated with gas burnersfor the purpose of automatically prospark that ignites the gas issuingfrom the jet openings of a burner simultaneously with the operation. ofthe valve that controls the flow of gas to the burner.

My improved gas lighting device, while particularly designed for thelighting of the burners of gas stoves, may be conveniently employed forlighting the gas burners of furnaces, water heaters or any appliancehaving a gas burner asso ciated therewith.

A further object of my invention is, to provide an electric gas lighterthat is actuated by the adjustment or movement of the valve to controlthe burner. In other words, after the gas burner has been lighted, thevalve may be manipulated to increase or decrease the gas flow to theburner without actuating the electric lighting device.

With the foregoing and other objects in view my invention consists incertain novel features of construction and arrangements of parts thatwill be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated inthe accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of my improved electric gas lighter, thesame being shown associated with the gas burner and valve in verticalsection.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view partly in section taken looking in thedirection indicated by the arrow 3 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of a gas burner and showing the sparkplugs that are utilized for producing an electric spark to light the gasissuing from the burner jets.

control valve that includes a housing ii to which is connected one endof a pipe l2 that leads to the gas burner l3.

Arranged for rotation within housing H, is the usual valve plug M, onthe outer end of 5 which is mounted a handle l5.

The rotary movement of the plug is limited by a pin I6 that is seated insaid plug and which, pin engages shoulders I! that are formed on thehousing.

Secured on the inner end of the valve plug, is' one end of a short armor finger i8 that engages the electric lighting de- Interposed betweenthe rear end of the housing l4 and the finger I8, is an expansive coilspring I 9 that functions to maintain a fluid pressure tight jointbetween the valve plug and housing.

Supported on pipe l2 or upon a part of the burner I3, is a pair ofconventional spark plugs S, the terminals T of which are positionedadjacent each other and adjacent certain of the jet openings in theburner so that the gas issuing from said jet openings will flow pastsaid torminals and be ignited by the spark that is produced between saidterminals.

Suitably mounted on a fixed support, preferably the pipe l2 to the rearof the gas control valve, is a housing 20 of insulating material,preferably porcelain and said housing having 'an integral centrallyarranged partition 2|.

Seated in the center of the partition, is a pin 22, the ends of whichproject into the chambers to the sides of the partitionv and mounted torotate freely on the front projecting portion of said pin or thatportion that is adjacent the gas valve, is a disc 23 of insulatingmaterial.

A similar disc of insulating material 24 is mounted to rotate freely onthat portion of the pin 22 that projects into the chamber to the rear ofpartition 2|. The discs 23 and 24 are eccentrically mounted on the pin22 so that they depend therefrom by gravity and normally occupy thelower portions of the chambers in housing 20 as illustrated in Figs. 2,3 and 4.

The lower portions 01' the discs 23 and 24 are connected by a pin 25that passes through an arcuate slot 26, formed in the lower portion ofpartition 2| and which slot is concentric with the axis of pin 22.

The front portion of pin wardly from the housing so 25 is extended outasto occupy a posi- 5i of finger l8.

Secured todisc 23 and lying on the upper portion of the peripherythereof, is a thin strip 21 of metal.

'Seated, in the top of housing 20 above the chamber that is occupied bydisc 23, are two pins 28 and 29, the projecting upper ends of whichcarry washers 30 and nuts 3! and secured to and projecting downwardlyand laterally above disc 23, is a contact arm 32 of thin-resilientmetal. A similar contact arm 33 of thin resilient metal is secured toand extends downwardly from pin The lower portions of the contact arms32 and 33 are normally spaced apart and when disc 23 is swung to oneside upon its axis by the engagement of finger l8 with pin 25, thecontact strip 21 is brought into engagement with the'free ends of thecontact arms 32 and 33, thereby closing one of the electric circuits ofthe lighting device.

Seated in the top of housing 20 to one side of the center thereof, is apin 34, the outer end of which carries a washer 35 and a nut 36 andpivotally mounted on the end of the pin that projects into the housing,is the upper end of a contact arm 31 that normally rests on the upperportion of disc 24.

Projecting from the periphery of the disc 24, is a lug 38, which whensaid disc is normally positioned as illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4,occupies a position below and to one side of the central portion of theswinging contact arm 31.

Seated in the upper portion of housing 20 on the opposite side from pin34, is a pin 39, the outer end of which carries a washer 40' and nut 4|and formed on the inner end of this pin is a head 42, with which thefree end of contact arm 31 engages when said arm is swung upward as aresult of engagement by lug 38 on disc 24.

In Fig. 6 I have diagrammatically illustrated a simple and convenientelectrical system that may be associated with the electric lighter andwhich system includes a conventional vibrator V and a transformer T.

The electric current supply line is connected to the transformer and thelatter is electrically connected in the conventional manner to vibratorV.

Leading from transformer T to pin 28 that carries the contact arm 32 isa conductor 43 and leading from one side of the vibrator to pin 29, thatcarries contact arm 33, is a conductor 44.

Leading from vibrator to contact pin 38, is a conductor 45 and leadingfrom the transformer to one of the spark plugs S is a conductor 46. Aconductor 41 leads from the other one of the spark plugs to the swingingcontact arm 31.

In the operation of my improved electric gas lighter, the operatingparts thereof under normal conditions or with the gas valve closed,occupy the positions as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 inelusive.

To permit gas to flow to and through the burner and to light the gas asit issues from the jets of the burner, handle 15 is engaged and rotatedapproximately a quarter turn so as to bring the port in the valve pluginto registration with the duct through valve housing l4 and as a resultof this movement gas will fiow from supply line III to the burner.

As the valve plug is rotated finger I! will swing laterally and theengagement of said finger with the projecting end of pin 25 will swingdisc 23 laterally and upwardly and due to the eccentric 2,087,148 tionin the path of travel of the upper portion mounting of said disc, thecontact strip 21 on the periphery of said disc will be carried intocontact with the free ends of the contact arms 32 and 33, therebyclosing the circuit through conductors 43 and 44 that are connectedrespectively to the transformer and vibrator.

As a result of the closing of this circuit, a vibratory current is setup through the spark plug circuit that includes conductors 45, 46 and 41and the contacts 31 and 42.

As disc 23 is swung laterally and upwardly as just described, the pin 25that connects the lower portion of discs 23 and 24 will correspondinglyswing disc 24 to one side so that the lug 38 engages and swings contactarm 31 upwardly into engagement with contact 42, thus closing the sparkplug circuit and a spark or sparks will be produced between theterminals T of the spark plug to ignite the gas issuing from the jetopenings of burner i3.

After the upper end of finger I8 passes beneath pin 25 to rock the discs23 and 24 as just described, the discs will drop back to their normalpositions by gravity and the valve handle l5 may now be shifted slightlyin either direction to control the flow of gas from supply pipe Hi tothe burner 13 and this adjustment of gas flow is accomplished withoutreestablishing the electric circuits between the contacts, the sparkplugs and the transformer and vibrator.

It will be understood that when disc 23 swings backward to its normalposition, disc 24 likewise swings back to its normal position, due tothe connecting pin 25 and as disc 24 swings back to its normal positionthe lug 38 moves away from arm 31 so as to permit the latter to swing bygravity away from contact 42, such action occurring after the gas hasbeen lighted by the spark produced between the terminals of the sparkplugs.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an electric gas lighter thatis relatively simple in construction, inexpensive of manufacture andvery effective in performing the functions for which it is intended.

It will be understood that minor changes in the size, form andconstruction of the various parts of my improved electric gas lightermay be made and substituted for those herein shown and described withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is setforth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an electric gas lighter, a switch comprising a housing, apartition within said housing, said partition being provided in itslower portion with an arcuate slot, a pair of spaced resilient contactmembers projecting into the housing on one side of the partition, amember pivotally mounted on said partition adjacent the ends of saidspaced contacts and above said slot, a contact member carried by saidpivotally mounted member and adapted to engage the ends of the spacedcontacts when the pivotally mounted member is swung upon its axis in onedirection, a member located on the other side of the partition withinthe housing and connected to the axis of said pivotally mounted memberso as to swing simultaneously therewith, a lugprojecting from said lastmentioned member, a contact arm pivotally mounted in the housingadjacent the lug on said pivotally mounted member, a fixed contact inthe housing which fixed contact is adapted to be engaged by thepivotally mounted contact when the same is swung on its axis by theengagement therewith of said lug and a pin connecting the lower portionsof said pivotally mounted members, which pin passes through the arcuateslot in said partition and projections beyond the side of the housingfor engagement with a part of a gas control valve.

2. In an electric gas lighter, a switch comprising a housing, apartition within said housing, said partition being provided in itslower portion with an arcuate slot, a pin extending through the centerof said partition, discs loosely mounted on the ends of said pin, amember connecting the lower portions of the members carried by said pin,which last mentioned member passes throughthe arcuate slot in thepartition, one end of which last mentioned member projects beyond theside of the housing to'be engaged by a part of an adjacent gas controlvalve and pairs of contacts arranged within the housing on oppositesides of the partition therein, which contacts are closed by the membersdepending i'romsaid pin as said depending members are swung in onedirection.

3. In an electric gas lighter, a switch comprising a housing, apartition within said housing,-

said partition being provided in its lower portion with an arcuate slot,apin extending through the center of said partition, discs looselymounted on the ends of said pin, a member connecting the lower portionsof the members carried by said pin, which last mentioned member passesthrough the arcuate slot in the partition, one end of which lastmentioned member projects beyond the side of the housing to be engagedby a part of an adjacent gas control valve, pairs of normally opencontacts arranged within the housing on opposite sides of the partitiontherein, a lug projecting from the periphery of one of said discs forclosing one pair 01' said contacts and a conductor carried by theperiphery of the other disc for closing the other pair of contacts when20 the discs are swung in one direction.

WALTER J. REEVES.

